Aside from leading his party to a devastating loss in the recent UK election, Rishi Sunak may well be most remembered for his role as style guru and ambassador for Adidas Sambas, a role which undoubtedly saw other fashion-conscious Samba owners race to throw their own pairs in the bin.
Despite this narrow brush with fashion death, I was heartened to learn from Tommy Farhner – Director of Merchandising and Trend Forecaster extraordinaire – that:
“The Samba continues to be favoured among Gen Z fashionistas, which is likely to have an influence on Zalphas for back to school 24 shopping.”
Phew!
(In case you are wondering, ‘Zalphas’ are those on the cusp of Gen Z and Gen Alpha. This micro-generation is the one that was most affected by the pandemic. Zalphas are a hybrid generation of children who are the youngest of Generation Z and the oldest of Generation Alpha. They are aged between 10 and 15 and are the children of Millennials.)
But while it’s good news for Sambas, the other retro shoe from Adidas – the Gazelle – isn’t faring so well, with various experts reporting how Adidas had the equivalent of 600% of normal stock levels still unsold.
Aside from an overall dip in sneaker sales (as evidenced by the Nike share price crash of a few months ago), the Gazelle scenario is seen by some as an outcome of relying too much on Tik Tok, and other social media, to determine what is ‘hot’.
Of course Adidas aren’t the first – and they won’t be the last – brand to mistake social media chat for genuine, deep consumer insights.
Indeed, one such example is the brand ‘Little Moons’ – who make ‘bite sized balls of mochi ice cream’ – in a range of flavours including Himalayan Salted Caramel, Uji Matcha Green Tea, Honey Roasted Pistachio, Yuzu Lemon, and Alphonso Mango.
Little Moons was a super-hot brand on social media, and if you analysed their social audience you would conclude that their core customer was females in their late teens and early 20s.
However, kudos to the team at Little Moons who didn’t fall into the trap of mistaking social audience for paying customers. When they did some genuine consumer profiling, based on real-life shopping behaviours, they found the people really driving the volume in premium ice cream were affluent 30+ year olds with more disposable income.
Little Moons crafted a campaign accordingly, and reaped the rewards.
Sometimes insights are really mind blowing in their power, especially if they are unexpected.
A famous example is of course the discovery that Nappysan was being used to wash white business shirts (not just nappies) – a finding which completely revolutionised the way it was advertised.
Another, more sobering example, is from the US, where research found a link between chronic absenteeism in US schools, and lack of access to clean clothes.
Basically, 1 in 5 American children were found to struggle to access clean clothes, thousands missing school every day because of the resulting embarrassment. The long-term effects of missing school are well understood, and as a result of this insight, Whirlpool were able to put their brand purpose into action, making a massive difference to real lives through something as simple as laundered clothes. In its first year, the program washed over 2,300 loads of washing in 17 schools. The results were staggering: 90% of the students increased their attendance, 95% of students were more motivated in class, and 89% of students improved their classroom participation.
The takeout? There is no substitute for deep, powerful, insights
Those of you who have read my earlier insights will know I place less store in what people say they will do, and more in what they actually do. In other words, I believe revealed preferences – based on actual behaviours – are more valuable than stated preferences.
As the largest digital platform for advisors in Australia, Ensombl has over 9,000 members, and every day they come to the platform to ask and answer questions, share, and collaboratively solve the real and contemporary challenges in advice right now. There’s no spin, no false signals, just advisors going about their business, growing their practice, helping their clients. As a result, the insights we are able to able to glean from the platform – for example, real estate was the most discussed investment topic in July – are all grounded in real-life behaviours. And for marketing, sales and product teams, that makes these insights far more valuable.
Afterall, no one wants 6 year’s worth of unsold sneakers on their hands.
More from Richard Dunkerley
